Toilet system for trailers



. o United States Patent 1135375 121 Inventor Norbert James Palmer 50] Field ofSearch.....' 210/360, Playa Del Rey, California 360(A), 416, 357,359, 396 [21] Appl. No. 829,827 1 1 [22] Filed March 17, 1969 s 1 R ferences Cited Division of Ser. No. 680,776, Nov. 6, 1967, UNITED STATES PATENTS now 3,473,171, which is 3,067,433 12/1962 Dietz et a1. 2l0/416X a division of Ser. No. 438,500, Mar. 10, 1965, abandoned Primary Examiner-J. L. lQeCesare [45] Paemed Nov 3.1970 Att0rney- Marvin H. Klelvberg and Leonard Golove [73] Assignee Monogram Industries, Inc. V

Culver z ia i ABSTRACT: In a recirculating toilet construction a motor corpora o a on drives a pump impeller as well as a cylindrical perforate filter [54] TOILET SYSTEM FOR TRAILERS element rotatably supported on a pump housing. The filter element is of one-piece construction with a series of outer circumferential grooved portions having slit portions through which fluid pumped by the impeller flows. Such grooved portions are cleaned by a comb element mounted as a cantilever on the pump housing. The entire assembly may be removed as a cartridge from an apertured portion of a tank upon which such assembly is mounted.

V Patnted Nov. 3, 1970 Shoot g or 2 TOILET SYSTE MFOKTRAILERS Thisapplication isa division of Ser. No. 680,776; filed Nov. 6, i967, now U.S. PatiNo. 3,473,17l, which in turnjis a divisionof Ser'. No; 438,500,'filedMar; l0, l965, and now abandoned.

The 'present invention 'relates to toilet arrangements which are particularlyluseful for installations in housetrailers, boats, busesitrailersor in'other mobile, semimobileyor stationary installations:

The toilet arrangement described herein involves generally a toilet bowl mounted on a st'orage tank*-with*afilter pump assembly mounted I within the tankto recirculate flushing fluid.

Whilesimilar arrangementshaveheretofore been provided for use "in aircraft, .the present arrangement is featured by its simplicity; inexpensiveness and compactness.

Itisthereforea'igeneral object ofthe present inventionto provideanimprovedtoilet arrangement particularly useful in a practical and commercial sense forthe aboveindicated purposes;

The' features'of'thepresent invention which'are believedto be novel'are set forthawith' particularityimthe appended claims.

Th'is inventionitself, both" as to its organization? and manner of operation, together" with" further objects and advantages thereof, may b'e bestunderstoodbyreference'to the'following description taken in connection with the'accornpanying.

drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is" generally a to'p plan view of acon'struction embodying featureso'f"thepresentinvention, withfsome parts broken away to showin'ternal constructions;

FIG. 2 is' atview in side el'evation 'witha portion ofthetank brokenaway, and corresponds generally toga view taken along? FIG. 3 "is:a=viewtaken.substantially as indicatedby line 3-3" in FIG. 2-, withaportion of "the'odor seal broken away;

FIG. MS a view taken as indicated by, the line in-FIG; 3;

tional plastic moulding. techniques, although: it will be Lin derstood that, as" illustrated; thebowl liland? tank 12 maybe separately formed and mechanically Or -chemically sealingly joined together. In some instances, the, tankl2-may be anexistin'gtta'nlt ona housetrail er'normally used infstorage of waste water from the trailer sink, shower and/or lavatory and suitably adapted to-receive and'mountithe filter -andpump assembly indicatedat 13% The assembly l t'iricludes a'amultipart housingtl6 having an upper flangedp'o'r-tion l8 through which' a' series of screws 20 F IG; extendsfor' fasteningithe'asse'mbly tothe upper surface of tank 12 with a' sealing. gasket 22 sandwiched therebetween.

This multipart housing. 15 iszformed with a a passageway 24* whicltter'minatesin anuppernipple portion 26'forconvenient attachment of one end 'ofa flexiblehose"2'8 having its other end attached to a nippleportion 30 integrally formed with:

Bowl [0 to thereby provide aconfined; paththrough which flushingfluid may flow fromnth'e tank l2 andintobowl for r'eturh'to the'tank 12.

Preferably, asshown in FIGS: 2*and 3, the throat portion 102% of Bowl lll'isgenerally ellipticaland is fitted with a col-- lapsible sleeve 1"08' which is normally closedto provide an odor" seal, but which automatically opens under slight fluid pressure exerted onthe sleeve. I The toilet seat 32 ishingedly mounted byhinge structure 32A onatanlt l'2-andhas acover 34hinged thereto,

Referring. now to the detailed construction of the pumpfilte'r assembly l4in'FlGZ Siit is seen that the multipart 'hous- 36A by bolts 42,withits shaft 38A extending into anannular chamber defined by a cup-shaped element 48 fitted within housing element 50 and disposed between an internal shoulder portion 50A-and an'annularflanged portion 368 of housing element 36.

The time delay switch 40is mounted on the cover member 52*bybolts53, with a manually operable pushbutton 54 extending through the cover: Theswitch 40 is of conventional construction and is 'operatively connected topushbutton 54 such th'at depression and release of button 54 causes the switch 40 'toclose and remain closed only for, for example, five or ten seconds, at which time the switch times itself out and returnsto its normally-open condition. The switch 40 is connected electrically in series with themotor 38 and power leads byflexible wires (notshown) in'housing element 36. Such power leads sealingly entering the interior of housing element'36 are'also'omittedfrom thedrawings for purposes of simplicity.

Motor shaft 38A is coupled by flexible coupling element 54 to theaupper end of an impeller pump shaft 56, the shaft 56 extending sealingly through thebase portion 48A of housing element 48"and carrying a: small gear 58meshing'with a larger gear60=onshaft 621 is in sealed chamber 64 which may be filled with alubricant'.

These shafts 56, 62 extend sealingly through the large base portion of housing-elementS'O which provides a bearing for.

the same andinto'and through the housing and spacer element aperturedxportion beingcentrally aligned with the rotational axis of impeller which acts as an elementof a centrifugal pumpt'o propelthe fluid'upwardly intothe radially displaced channel 24. defined .byaligned'apertured portions in elements 66and68;

The'lowerendofshaft'62 mounts'a gear 76 meshing within an internal gear 78 integrally formedon a filter element 80 whichiisrotated at a'slower speed than rotor or'impeller 70..

The filter element 80*is cup-shapedandin addition to being formedwith the internalgear 78 is formed with a plurality of circumferentially extendingslit portions 80A which limit the size'ot' particlesthat may enter: thepump chamber. The filter element 80 is rotatably supported and cleaned by two L- shaped wiper elements 84, each of which has a series of toothedportions 84A- extendingintoouter circumferentially extending. grooved portions 80B' on the filter element 80, each of such wiper-elements 84-being .supportedas a-cantilever by fasteningscrews-86threaded into the stationary pump housing 68;

'l he-baseportion of the filter element may also be provided withone or more series ofslits, as indicatedat 80C in FIG. 6.

Thewipers 84 thus provide a bearing member for the filter element80, and alsothe upper portion 80E of the filter element 80 cooperates with a circular undercut portion 68D of portion 68D also serving as a bearthreaded fastenersas exemplified by a series of fasteners 90 in FIG. 5 which serve tosemipermanently interconnect the elements '66'and 50.

The lower end of tank 12 is shown'closedby a gate valve assembly or may be fitted with a drain connection for a valve mounted under thefloor, and is secured to a floor F of, for example, a buildingsuch' as a trailer using the following constructiom- A drain pipe 102 is fitted with a threaded flange 104 which is secured to the floor F by screws 106.

The tank 12 is provided with an annular base portion 12A which rests on the floor F. A part of this base portion is in the form of a removable closure member 108 for gaining access to the drain valve 100 and gaining access to mounting studs 146.

The valve housing 110 or drain adaptor is secured to the tank 12 by a series of screws 112 (FIG. 9) with an annular seal 116 within a grooved portion of tank 12 being contacted by a raised bead portion of a plate 113 that serves to retain the annular valve seat 120. A movable valve member 124 in the form of a sliding gate is slidably mounting in housing 110 for cooperation with the seat 120 to close the valve. The valve may be opened by removing the closure member 108 and actuating the handle 128, the handle 128 being on one end of a rod 130 attached to closure member 124.

As seen in FlG. 2, the valve body 102 is fitted into a heavy rubber ring 140, as seen in FIG. 8, such ring 140 is clamped to -the flange 104 using a series of studs 146 and brackets 148.

As shown in FIG. 7, the closure member 103 is a flexible curved plate and is provided with a hooked portion 108A at each of its ends whereby the same may be quickly attached to and detached from the stationary base portion 12A to gain access to the valve handle 128 or mounting studs 146.

initially, the tank 12 is precharged with a mixture of water and conventional chemicals to the level indicated in FIG. 2. The bowl 110 may be flushed at any time by depressing and releasing button 54 in whichcase fluid in tank 12 is circulated by the impeller pump 70, with the filter basket 80 rotating and being cleaned by the stationary finger portions or blades 84A.

It will be seen that the assembly 14 may be conveniently disassembled as a unit from tank 12 for repair or replacement purposes by removing the fastening bolts 20, disconnecting the hose connection 28 and then pulling the unit upwardly through the apertured portion in the upper surface of tank 12 which normally supports the entire unit 14. When this is accomplished, access is also had to the odor seal for replacement purposes.

lclaim:

1. In a filter-pump assembly of the character described:

a motor having an output shaft; a pump housing structure; filter means; means mounting said filter means on said structure for rotation thereon; drive means on said filter means;

annular series of gear teeth along the inner periphery of said cup-shaped element, said second shaft drive means including a gear on said second shaft; said intermediate drive means comprising a gear meshing with the series of gear teeth on said filter means; and a direct coupling between said output shaft and said second shaft whereby said motor drives said pump directly and drives said filter means throughsaid intermediate drive means.

2. An assembly as set forth in claim l in which said pump housing structure includes a housing element and an elongated hollow spacer element having one end thereof releasably secured to said housing element; bearing means for rotatably supporting said shaft in said housing element and also in said spacer element; and a motor housing structure enclosing said motor and releasably secured to the other end of said hollow spacer element, said spacer element including a pipe section in communication with said pump cavity as the primary conduit for discharging fluid.

3. in a filter-pump assembly of the character described including: a pump housing element having an annular bearing element; a filter element comprising generally a cup-shaped element having a base portion and a cylindrical wal portion which has bearing means thereon cooperating with said bearing element for rotatably supporting said filter element; a circumferential extending gear on the inner circular wall of said filter element for driving said filter element about its axis; said pump housing element having a pump cavity; a pump impeller in said cavity; a shaft rotatably supported in said housing element and mounting said impeller, said shaft having a gear thereon; and means meshing with said gear on said shaft and also meshing with said gear on said filter element and being rotatably supported for rotation on said housing element about an axis which extends generally parallel with the axis of said shaft. 

